During the Joseon Dynasty when women were not expected to be smart or allowed to be educated, Kim Yoon Hee (Park Min Young) was both.

After her father passes away and her brother becomes ill, Yoon Hee disguises herself as a boy and takes on her brother’s identity to get odd jobs and help support her struggling family. When she realizes that there is good money to be made, Yoon Hee begins to take the entrance exams in the place of other students who want to get into the prestigious Sungkyunkwan University.

During one such test, Yoon Hee is discovered to be perpetrating the illegal activity by the morally upright Lee Sun Joon (Park Yoochun), who threatens to turn her in.

But believing that Yoon Hee is a boy, Sun Joon encourages her to take the test herself (with her brother’s identity). Both pass the exam and get into the university and become roommates. As Yoon Hee is now enjoying the glories of getting a higher education, she befriends the playboy Goo Yong Ha (Song Joong Ki) and the rebellious Moon Jae Shin (Yoo Ah In) and starts to develop feelings for Sun Joon – all the while trying to keep her true gender a secret from her new friends and the other male students.

Can she keep up the charade long enough to get the education she desires and keep her emotions at bay?

“Sungkyunkwan Scandal” is a 2010 South Korean drama series directed by Kim Won Suk and Hwang In Hyuk. It is based on the bestselling novel The Lives of SungKyunKwan Confucian Scholars by Jung Eon Gweol. The series won numerous drama awards, and Park Min Young and Park Yoochun received numerous Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Couple awards.